This listening exercise is about a fashion designer talking about his career. This a multiple-choice listening exercise for Part 4 of the B1 Preliminary Listening Test. This gives you practice before you take the Cambridge English B1 Preliminary exam.
B1 Preliminary Listening Test Part 4 – Fashion Designer
You will hear a successful fashion designer talking about his career.
Fashion designer: I’m quite often asked how I got into fashion. For me, it was something I always wanted to do. However, because my mother was a university teacher and my father a headmaster, they found it hard to accept that fashion could be a serious career. I wasn’t bad at school, I mean I was a typical student, passed enough exams and so on, and they could understand I might want to go to art college, but fashion just wasn’t a serious subject for them.
Anyway, they said I had to do a year’s business course first. I didn’t like it at the time, but later, it made a big difference to me. For example, when I started my art college course, I could use a word processor, I knew about managing money, I had an idea of how to talk about business. None of the other students had that. And the other thing I did during that year was to get a part-time job in the office of a small factory making good-quality clothes. The pay was awful, but I learnt a lot there about that end of the industry, so I began to understand what’s possible and what isn’t. I mean, by watching people, I realised what you can and can’t do with different types of cloth, what takes a long time to make on a sewing machine, you know.
Then I did two years at the local art college. I wanted to go to London straight away, but my parents insisted. I think they thought I was too young, I was still only seventeen by then, but in the end, it was cost. London is a very expensive place for a student. So I stayed at home until I won a prize for a design which actually gave me a place at a London college for nine months. There, I was able to make a lot of useful contacts – I was already working for an Italian fashion house three months before I left. I went on to spend three wonderful years in Milan, then I got the job in New York for a year, which was really exciting, but unbelievably stressful. I think probably because I was too far away from my family, more than any actual problems with the work itself. So, I ended up in London, starting my own company, which is stressful in a different way, but really I enjoy it very much.
More exercises available for B1 Preliminary Part 4:
Part 3 - Gap-Filled Exercise
Part 4 - Multiple Choice Exercise
The B1 Preliminary Speaking test has four parts and you take it together with another candidate. There are two examiners. One of the examiners talks to you and the other examiner listens.
Part 1 - Read five real-world notices, messages and other short texts for the main message.
- Notices and Messages How to Video
- Notices and Messages Set 1
- Notices and Messages Set 2
- Notices and Messages Set 3
- Notices and Messages Set 4
- Notices and Messages Set 5
- Notices and Messages Set 6
- Notices and Messages Set 7
- Notices and Messages Set 8
Part 2 - Match five descriptions of people to eight short texts on a particular topic, showing detailed comprehension.
Part 3 - Read a longer text for detailed comprehension, gist, inference and global meaning, as well as writer’s attitude and opinion.
Part 4 - Read a longer text from which five sentences have been removed. Show understanding of how a coherent and well-structured text is formed.
Part 5 - Read a shorter text and choose the correct vocabulary items to complete gaps.
- Bagpipes
- Book Recommendation
- Mountain Climbing
- Playing Computer Games
- Popular Website
- Saving a Tree
- Single or Mixed-gender Schools
- Work of Art
Part 6 - Read a shorter text and complete six gaps using one word for each gap.
Write about 100 words, answering the email and notes provided.
Write about 100 words, either an article or story.
Articles
Short Stories
- Air Travel Crossword
- Computer Crossword
- Crime Crossword
- Entertainment Crossword
- Financial Language Crossword
- Food Crossword
- Health Crossword
- Home Crossword
- Language Crossword
- Leisure Crossword
- Money Crossword
- Natural World Crossword
- Places Crossword
- Shopping Crossword
- Sports Crossword
- Technology Crossword
- Texting Crossword
- Time Crossword
- Transport Crossword
- Travel Crossword
- Work and Jobs Crossword
- Adjectives with -ing Word Search
- Art Word Search
- Bonfire Night Word Search
- Buildings Word Search
- Classical Music Word Search
- Countryside Word Search
- Drama Word Search
- Education Word Search
- Entertainment Word Search
- Fast Food Word Search
- Feelings Word Search
- Food and Drink Word Search
- Football Word Search
- Gambling Word Search
- Haunted House Word Search
- Health Word Search
- Home Word Search
- Internet Word Search
- Language Word Search
- Leisure Word Search
- Natural World Word Search
- Shopping Word Search
- Sports Facilities Word Search
- Sports Word Search
- Sushi Word Search
- Technology Word Search
- Time Word Search
- Town and City Word Search
- Travel Word Search
- Weather Word Search
- Work Word Search
- Clothes Word Puzzle
- Color Word Puzzle
- Communication Word Puzzle
- Easter Word Puzzle
- Education Word Puzzle
- Entertainment Word Puzzle
- Environment Word Puzzle
- Food Word Puzzle
- Health Word Puzzle
- Hobbies Word Puzzle
- Language Word Puzzle
- Medicine Word Puzzle
- Natural World Word Puzzle
- Technology Word Puzzle
- Time Word Puzzle
- Weather Word Puzzle
- Air Travel Exercises
- Animals and Pets
- British and American English
- Chinese New Year
- Christmas
- Clothing
- Computer Exercises
- Easter (A2 – B1 Levels)
- Education
- Entertainment
- Environment
- Environmental Issues
- Finance Exercises
- Food and Drink
- Leisure and Hobbies
- Money Exercises
- Phoning and Texting Exercises
- Places and Buildings
- Relationships
- Transport and Travel
- Work and Jobs
- Short Story – Talent Contest
- Email – Saving Energy
- Email – Holiday Plans
- Article – The Countryside
- Email – New School
- Article – Schools for Boys and Girls
- Email – Party Invitation
- Article – Work of Art
- Short Story – Art Competition
- Email – Borrowing
- Email – Barbecue Invitation
- Article – The Cardboard Bike
- Report – Eating out in Berlin
- Blog Post – A New Life in Japan
- Email – Summer School
- Email – Subject Choices
- Letter – Most Important Time
- Email – School Holidays
- Movie Review – Ted
- Email – Visiting a relative
- Email – about University
- Article – Being Famous
- Email – Computer Games
- Email – Favourite Film
- Email – Holiday in Thailand
- Short Story – The Angel
- Speech – Course Introduction
- News Report – Bank Robbery
- Report – Features of Glaciers
- Short Story – In Free Fall
- Book Review – The Call
- Short Story – Computer Problems
Cambridge English exams are designed for learners at all levels from the pre-intermediate level Cambridge English: Key (KET) to the very advanced level Cambridge English: Proficiency (CPE). These exams give candidates proof of their ability to use English in a wide variety of contexts, relevant to work, study and leisure activities.